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My wife asked me one day as we were driving, “Have you ever wondered how you are going to die?”

Traffic was nasty, so I tried to ignore her. As usual, once she gets something on her mind she wants an answer. I mumbled something, trying to distract her. You’d think after all these years I’d know that wouldn’t work, but at least it got me a brief reprieve.

When we came to a stop sign, she turned her beautiful, determined face toward me and said, “Well, have you?” I stayed quiet. I knew from experience she had something on her mind she wanted to say.

After a few moments, she said, “I think I’d like to die the way your dad did. He was reading the paper in their backyard, having breakfast under his grape vines, and just fell forward. Your mother had gone in to get him another cup of coffee, but suddenly a white dove bumped into the kitchen window and flapped its wings to get in. Mom was so startled she went outside to look for the dove and found your dad dead. As she looked up, she saw a dove with a broken wing fly away. That brings goosebumps every time I think about your dad’s homegoing.”

By letting my better half answer her own question, I’d heard an insightful answer that caused me to reflect on what she was saying.

One evening while I was home from college, I told Dad I was afraid he wasn’t going to heaven with Mom, me, and the girls. We would miss him. His answer surprised me: “Let’s go into the bathroom right now and settle this with God.”

We went into our little bathroom, and I knelt beside Dad as he asked the Lord to forgive him and save his soul—despite all the evil he had done. As he repented, tiny tears came from his eyes. He still had flaws but knew he would go to heaven someday.

If you haven’t yet, do what my dad did, and you will find a blessed life and a wonderful way to die.

(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)

(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.)